14 DAY TRIAL // ChromeOS, the operating system on which Google has been working for years, is to merge with Android, if we believe two inside sources cited by The Wall Street Journal.
The operating system that's been powering Chromebooks was seen as a ground-breaking concept when the company announced it back in 2009, but very few users saw in it more than a modified version of the Chrome browser.
The OS and the subsequent Chromebook laptops were a success in the educational sector and some SMB markets, where their low licensing costs made them more valuable compared to high-priced notebooks sporting enterprise-licensed software.
On the other hand, Google's other operating system, Android, has conquered the mobile kingdom and is now in firm control with an 85% market share, dwarfing any other competitor.
The first preview of ChromeOS+Android to arrive in 2016
Initial reports say that, while the new ChromeOS+Android OS is currently set for launch in 2017, developer previews are also to be expected. If you're familiar with how Google does things, next year's Google I/O conference should be quite an exciting event.
Besides the new OS, the two insiders also claim that Chromebooks are set to get a new name.
Many industry experts predicted the demise of ChromeOS last month, when Google announced Pixel C, a line of laptops and tablets for the enterprise market. Google said that Pixel C devices would be running Android, and not ChromeOS.
By mixing ChromeOS with Android, Google (or more accurately Alphabet) is stealing a page out of Microsoft's book, trying to provide a fully functional OS that can run on multiple devices at once.
Right now, when compared to Apple, which uses two different operating systems for desktops (Mac OS X) and touch devices (iOS), Microsoft's way seems more efficient, yet less successful. Google may have a better chance of making it work since Android is on a rising tide while Windows has been on a downward spiral for years.